Corrupt Creations

Qiao Duyi abruptly accelerated towards the area he felt that energy fluctuation, while his Mana was already circling to execute one of his fierce strikes. 

"I want to see, how you will keep hiding from me! Golden Claw!!!"

A blinding golden light covered his right arm as he clawed downwards. His clawing strike hit the ground near the area he had felt that Mana disturbance, causing a yellowish destructive light to descend there.

Bang!

More and more trees were uprooted by that strike, destroying a large area this time. He wanted to force his enemy to show himself, but unfortunately his enemy was one step ahead of him and wasn't caught in that attack. 

Right after his strike had ended, a dagger of darkness appeared together with a man fully covered in shadows. The place he appeared was right behind Qiao Duyi, while his dagger was already moving in a straight line towards the enemy, ready to assassinate him.

Thud! 

The dagger stabbed Qiao Duyi right on his back, but after penetrating a centimeter or two inside his skin, it suddenly stopped. His beast-like hide didn't let any weapon pierce over it so easily. 

Qiao Duyi felt a stinging pain on his back side and his arms quickly moved to grab the enemy that had just attacked him, but he wasn't able to hit anything. The enemy had vanished withing the shadows before he could get him. 

"Tch! Annoying!" 

The man shrouded in darkness appeared a dozen of meters away from him, waiting for something to happen. 

Qiao Duyi was about to yell at that enemy and taunt him for his wicked ways of acting, when he suddenly started to feel dizzy. 

"You! What did you do to me?!" 

Qiao Duyi was really shocked. He was a Profound Mana peak-stage cultivator and there shouldn't be a poison strong enough to create that effect on his body so quickly. 

The mysterious assassin finally decided to say something. 

"Just a little poison that assassins like me, love to use. However, that one is from a Mana Sovereign initial-stage beast, so I hope you enjoy it." 

"You!" When Qiao Duyi heard it, he felt furious. 

Actually, that poison was not something that strong, but a poison from a Profound Mana initial-stage beast that could mask its aura and toxicity to fool the enemies. The assassin was doing the same. The poison would seem like it was taking effect quicker and act with a strong initial toxicity, but some minutes later it would turn a thousand times weaker than when it was first administrated. 

But since Qiao Duyi didn't know what kind of poisonous energy it was and from which poisonous beast it was, he had to waste some of his trump cards right at the beginning of the fight. 

"AAHHH! I'll make you regret doing that! ROAR!!!" 

His body suddenly started to shine in a blinding golden light and all the muscles, limbs and organs started to change shape. Right in front of that assassin, he was quickly turning into a huge golden lion that was not only massive, but robust and menacing. He lacked the golden armor Qiao Bao had when he fought against Seth, but while he was transforming, the strong Mana fluctuations circling the area where he was, were enough to crush weaker enemies in a single second. Grinding them to dust. 

Boom! 

A golden light exploded forwards and he fully dispelled the poison running inside his veins, wasting his godlike transformation on something useless like that.  But before the assassin could rejoice about what had just happened, a golden lion shot towards him while using the timing of that blinding light as a support. 

The assassin swiftly covered his body in shadows, but the golden lion suddenly roared and forcefully dispelled his skill, making him stay face to face with an almighty beast king. 

Roar! 

The beast used his huge and sharp golden claws to smite down at the dark assassin, trying to end his story right there. There was a very strong golden pressure behind that attack, that made that member of the infamous group called Twelve Shadows, to furrow his eyebrows and get serious. 

Darkness quickly enveloped his whole body, creating a cocoon that protected him inside. It was one of the protective skills of the Shadow Demon inheritance, a skill that Seth was also able to display. However, that man had no way of leaving from inside there, or teleporting away from inside, like Seth did sometimes. It required a level of Mastery he currently lacked. 

The golden claw smashed the darkness cocoon apart, making the person hiding inside receive a fierce impact that sent him flying and destroying a wide area in that forest. 

The assassin used a huge quantity of Mana to stabilize his body and look back at the golden beast that had successfully hit him. Drops of blood were falling from his lips as he stabilized his condition. If that attack had hit him head on, all the bones on his body would have been crushed. 

Suddenly a female voice came from behind him, taunting the male assassin. 

"Ahaha... And here I thought that you would be easily dealing with him, after boasting so much it would be a simple task, Second Shadow." 

The man was ranked number two in the ranks of the Twelve Shadows. He was a Profound Mana peak-stage Realm dark elemental cultivator that followed and worked for Velgor. 

"Snort! You should be helping me dealing with him instead of only watching the situation as if it was a good show. You know we can't mess up things here, right?" 

"Tch... Alright. But it was just starting to get funny... Sigh... I guess we will have to end it faster then." Second Shadow's playful countenance suddenly started to change. 

When Qiao Duyi saw that new person, his instincts told him to flee while using his maximum speed. Against that thin and pale woman, he had no chance at all. 

The people from the Lion's Pride Golden Palace were a prideful bunch of muscle heads, but there was a situation where they would put their pride and ego away to escape, and that situation was when their instincts told them there was only death lying ahead. 

The massive body of that golden beast started to shine brightly once again. But this time, it was just like a golden sun had suddenly spawned right before those two dark elemental users. Qiao Duyi was using his best supportive skill to blind them. During that time it was active, he would quickly flee from the situation he was in, but before he even started to run, a curtain of darkness started to descend from above. 

That dark fog began to dim the golden light, quickly darkening that sun light and creating an eclipse. Not even the extra Mana Qiao Duyi infused on his skill was able to fight against that darkness that had descended. 

That woman was ranked first in the Twelve Shadows and her Mana was able to render Qiao Duyi useless, since she was a Mana Sovereign initial-stage cultivator. The Shadow Demon Royal Clan had two Mana Sovereigns and one of them was making a move. 

Qiao Duyi stopped wasting Mana on his supportive skill and used it all on his powerful limbs, reinforcing them to run away from that place while creating a thunder clap from his rapid acceleration. 

Clap! 

A golden lightning streaked through the forest, leaving everything behind. But instead of panicking that their prey was rapidly distancing from them, First and Second Shadow were calm. 

The woman titled First Shadow suddenly raised her hand and her dense Mana Sovereign energy quickly generated the darkest darkness. 

"Darkness Cage!" 

Bang! 

Around the area Qiao Duyi currently was, a cage made of dark elemental energy was suddenly created. 

Bang! 

His beast body suddenly hit hard against the walls of that cage, creating a strong impact that made the entire earth shake. However, the cage didn't break and the beast was forcefully stopped. 

He felt that dark elemental skill that was built with an energy that was beyond his capabilities of dealing with and despaired. 

Qiao Duyi decided to use his last resort in order to escape. A golden aura covered everything around him, drawing a lot of Mana towards his location. He was preparing to use one of the most powerful and destructive skills of his sect, a skill that would destroy everything, bathing the whole area with his prideful golden light and annihilating his enemies. However, it was a forbidden technique. 

That skill was so strong, that it would even damage the body of the user, but since he would be in his beast form, he would be able to handle the damage, but his enemies would all fall down. 

As if he was the epicenter of a golden cataclysm, the golden light converged around him, creating a compressed golden Mana globe. 

First and Second Shadows suddenly felt that his next attack would be dangerous; however, First Shadow was already prepared for what was to come.